So how exactly do you intend all of us validating you that you shouldn’t have to work past 5 help you with your problem with your boss? Don’t take a poll, ask for actionable advice.

@mxyzplk There you go.

"Great, because the job is done!"

Have you considered simply not logging off at 5pm? Given that your boss seems completely unreasonable, being deceptive is an option.

@DaveG surely you're not suggesting time theft...

@electronpusher I'm not paid hourly. How is this any worse than my boss stealing my time?

@electronpusher The OP says they're salaried. Any day when they work at all must be paid in full in the US regardless of hours, and possibly any week when they work at all must be paid in full regardless of hours. That's what salaried means. If their employer feels they're not receiving enough unpaid overtime, they could possibly fire the OP but they cannot reduce a salaried employee's salary for that.

I was under the impression that DaveG was suggesting the OP stay clocked in after 5pm without performing work, thus reporting work hours that were not actually worked. Salary or not, I'm pretty sure that would be unethical and possibly illegal.

Does your contract mention specific times of day or number of hours per week that you should work?

Is there a union you can join which would help you enforce your contract?

@electronpusher - I'd strongly argue this depends on the metric used - if there's a formal time clock system, where you're required to positively verify that you've left work, sure, don't falsify this. If the manager is using teams or similar online indicatiors, I'd argue that the cost of pushing the working hours issue vastly outweighs the cost of, say, setting a timer on my computer to shut it down an hour after I finish. This is a super poor piece of management, and you're not required to fix it.

What are the official working hours for the other people on your team/group/company? Is everyone else working at a later shift? Is the manager asking you to work more hours or just the same hours but at a later time?

Sadly, overtime, even for salaried employees is the expectation at some places. One place I worked, the hours were 8-4:30, but most people in one department worked until 6 or 7pm 5 days a week. Of course, they did nearly nothing from 8-2pm, then shifted gears and did all their work from 2-6pm. Yes, they provided a 1/2 day of work but took 1-1/2 days to do it. It was the norm and expectation in that department. People adapted and the company got what that dept's management expected.

Has your company any sort of policy or philosophy on work-hours or work-life balance? Maybe you can recourse to that.

It would be wrong not to. If you work regularly more than 8 hours, you make so many mistakes you spend more than that delta correcting them next day.

I often wonder with bosses who demand people stay back late to get work done, are they as happy to let them leave early if the complete their tasks ahead of expected time?

Clarification: was there a precipitating event that triggered this? For example, was there some deadline, minor or otherwise, your responsibility or otherwise, that got missed in part because you clocked out at 5 on some day? (If you don't know for sure, asking your supervisor seems like an excellent thing to do at some point.)

While it's not wrong in an objective sense, it can be career-limiting if your boss is a jerk. Don't ask me how I know! Best find a new boss before it comes to a showdown, than after.

This might be a sign of the boss' idea of what makes a good programmer. At one job, I watched one programmer who always waited to leave till 5-10 minutes after her boss left. Guess who got the next promotion. The boss seemed to think that she was the one always working and thus, should be promoted. Bosses can be myopic that way.

If your boss actually used the sentences "you can leave when the job is done" and "the job is never really done, there is always more work" in close conjunction and doesn't realize the issue with this, this is almost Dilbert level management incompetency. Don't expect that much can change starting from this baseline.

You have worked your 8 hours and fulfilled your obligation to your employer, you owe them nothing more. Your employer will pay you for those 8 hours worked and have fulfilled their obligation to you. Do you think they will feel obligated to do anything more for you? If not, then should you do anything more for them? Sage advice from an old-timer I worked with years ago at a company that was a stickler for punctuality, if you weren't there at 8 you were late, subsequently, when 5 rolled around everyone promptly left.